A note to teachers

1. A note to teachers Activity Description In this activity your pupils will review their experiments from the Solar System Science workshop and discuss their results and conclusions in more detail. Pupils will need the worksheets from the Solar System Science workshop which contain their results. The presentation is designed to be teacher-led, with opportunities for group discussion and/or individual work. Learning Objectives • To compare results with other groups in the class • To further link the experiments with the real Solar System Please note… Before you begin this activity, we recommend you familiarise yourself with it. This presentation contains differentiated elements. You are welcome to remove parts, edit or add to this presentation as you see fit, to tailor it to your class. We hope your class finds this activity interesting and useful. Should you have any feedback, please do not hesitate to send it to us. Thanks! - The Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre engagement team

2. Solar System Science After-workshop activity Image credit: NASA/JPL

3. What you did... In theSolar System Science workshop you completed four experiments about our Solar System. Image credit: NASA/JPL

4. What we are going to do now... In this activity, we’re going to check our results by comparing them with other groups. Scientists do this all the time, to make sure their results really show what they think they do. We will also learn more about the Solar System as we go!

5. Starter: What’s in the Solar System? 5. Anything else? 4. How many asteroids? 3. How many dwarf planets? 2. How many planets in the Solar System? 1. How many stars does the Solar System have? Our Solar System! You live here! 1Dwarf planet in here 1 Star (the Sun) Over 100 million asteroids Billions of comets out there? 4 Dwarf planets here 8 Planets Plus loads of meteoroids! Click on a hyperlink to find out more! Image credit: NASA (not to scale)

6. But where did the Solar System come from? Watch this video to find out how the Solar System formed… You must be connected to the internet for this video to play. If it is still not playing, click the link below or copy & paste the address into your web browser: http://youtu.be/RT4OO0TFLHw

7. 1: Gravity Experiment • Before we look at your results, let’s think about gravity a little bit… • How would you describe what gravity is? Image credit: NASA

8. Gravity • Gravity is the force that keeps us on the Earth. • Is gravity a pushing force or a pulling force? In what direction would gravity be pulling if you were standing at the South pole? Gravity is a pulling force that pulls us towards the centre of the Earth. Image credit: NASA

9. Image credit: NASA This rocket is leaving Earth. Which answer correctly describes Earth’s gravity acting on the rocket: A, B or C? The answer is... A B Gravity gets weaker the further you get away from a planet, but it does extend out into space! C: Neither! (there’s no gravity in space)

10. It’s gravity pulling downwards that causes things to have weight. • Weight is a force. • In science what do we measure forces in? In science we measure forces (including weight) in units called Newtons Image credit: NASA

11. Gravity experiment: Task 1 • In task 1 you measured the weight of six potsusing force meters. • Comparethe different groups’ readings from task 1. • Questions to consider: • Did every group get exactly the same results? • If not, can you think of any reasons that might make the results different? Scientists always check their results with other scientists to make sure their results agree.

12. Gravity experiment: Task 2 • We then imagined each pot contained the same amount of stuff, but that each one was on a different place in the Solar System. • This caused the pots to have different weights. • Can you remember why being somewhere else in the Solar System makes weight different?

13. On different planets, the strength of gravity is different. • This means on another planet an object is pulled downwards by a different amount. • This means the object will have a different weight. Can of beans on Earth... Same can of beans on Mars... 4 Newtons 1.6 Newtons Image credits: NASA

14. Gravity experiment: Task 2 • In task 2, you matched up each pot with where you thought it was, based on the strength of gravity on those different places. • If you didn’t finish task 2, you can complete it now (so long as you have your results from task 1). Here’s the strength of gravity on the six different places we looked at:

15. Task 2 answers... • How many agree and disagree? • If you didn’t get it right, is it because you measured a different weight in task 1, or was it a mistake in task 2?

16. 2: Sunlight Experiment Sunlight shines throughout the Solar System, providing planets with light and heat. Image credit: International Astronomical Union (not to scale)

17. Sunlight experiment: Task 1 • In this experiment, we imagined the bulb on the table was the Sun. You measured the brightness of the light from the ‘Sun’ at different distances away from it, using a light meter.

18. Sunlight experiment: Task 1 • In task 1 you were asked to make a prediction. • What did you predict would happen to the amount of light as you got further from the Sun? Scientists always make a prediction before they do an experiment. It’s not about getting it right or wrong – it’s about making sure they’re testing the right thing!

19. Sunlight experiment: Task 2 • Draw a line graph of your results from task 2. The axes below may help you… Graphs help scientists see patterns in their results. Mark the points on your graph, then draw a curve between them! Amount of light 25cm 50cm 75cm 100cm Distance (centimetres)

20. Sunlight experiment: Task 3 • Does your graph show the brightness going up, going down or staying the same? • Did all groups find the same pattern? • Does your pattern agree with your prediction? Remember – in science, if your results don’t agree with your prediction, it doesn’t mean you’ve gotten it wrong! It just means you found something unexpected!

21. Sunlight experiment: Extra Task • If you had time to do the extra task, you took an extra set of readings and compared them to your first ones. • If you did this, were your second readings exactly the same as your first? • Can you think of a reason why they might be different? In science, results are very rarely exactly the same because experiments are never perfect. That’s why experiments are repeated over and over!

22. More about Sunlight… • Let’s now think about the sunshine in the real Solar System… • Sunlight falling on a planet provides it with heat. • Look at your graph of results, where do you think the hottest planet would be? Where do you think the coldest planet would be? Image credit: NASA/SDO (AIA)

23. The temperature of the planets • This graph shows the average temperature of the planets, compared to how far away they are from the Sun. • Is it the same shape as your graph? • Which is the hottest planet? Which is the coldest planet? • Are these the planets you expected?

24. The temperature of the planets • Here are the average temperatures of the planets in a table… • Which planet is hottest? Which is coldest? • Are these the planets you expected? • Venus is the hottest planet – even though Mercury is the closest to the Sun! • Uranus is the coldest planet – even though Neptune is the furthest from the Sun! • Let’s find out why…

25. Mercury Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. This means it gets blasted by the Sun’s light and heat. The temperature on the day-time side can go up to 427˚C! However, Mercury has no atmosphere (no air). Atmosphere around a planet acts like a duvet – trapping in heat. At night, with no atmosphere to keep Mercury’s heat in, the heat zips off into space and Mercury cools down very quickly. On the dark, night-time side of Mercury, temperatures can drop down to a very chilly -173˚C! This makes the average temperature on Mercury about 167˚C. Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

26. Venus Venus is the second closest planet to the Sun, but it is the hottest. This is because Venus has loads of atmosphere! Venus’ atmosphere is 93 times thicker than Earth’s! The whole planet is covered in a thick layer of clouds – you can’t even see the surface! Venus’ atmosphere is mostly made of carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas – very good at trapping in heat! (the carbon dioxide didn’t come from cars and factories on Venus, but from lots of volcanoes!) All this means that Venus warms up from the heat of the Sun, and stays hot! The temperature on Venus is an even 462˚C! Image Credit: NASA/JPL

27. Uranus and Neptune Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun, but it is the coldest at -224˚C. Neptune is slightly warmer at -200˚C. This is because, although Neptune gets less light and heat from the Sun, Neptune generates more heat in its core. Neptune actually gives off 2.6 times more heat than it receives from the Sun. At the moment, we don’t know what’s causing that heat! Image Credits: NASA, ESA, and M. Showalter (SETI Institute); NASA/JPL

28. The solar system and water… • Look again at the average temperatures of the planets in the Solar System… • On what planet could you find liquidwater? The only planet in the Solar System where you can have liquid water is Earth. Any closer to the Sun and water boils. Any further away, and it freezes.

29. The area around a star where the temperature is right for liquid water is called the Habitable Zone (or the “Goldilocks Zone” – can you think why it’s called that?). In the habitable zone, living things might be able to survive! (all the living things we know of need liquid water to live)

30. Scientists are currently using telescopes to look for other planets in the habitable zones around other stars. Watch this video about one such planet found in 2014… You must be connected to the internet for this video to play. If it is still not playing, click the link below or copy & paste the address into your web browser: http://youtu.be/RlidbLyDnPs

31. 3: Mars experiment • Before we look at the results, here are some interesting facts about Mars… No astronauts have been to Mars yet, but it would take 9 months to travel there! Mars is covered in red dust called Iron Oxide, but you might know it as rust. Mars is home to the largest volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons!

32. Mars experiment: Task 1 • In this experiment, you tested three different pots of sand • We imagined these were samples from Mars • In Task 1, you mixed samples A, B and C with water in a test tube. You then added a strip of indicator paper to test which samples were acidic, neutralor alkaline • Compare your results with other groups, which samples were acidic, neutral or alkaline?

33. Here are the colours that the indicator paper can change to • The scale of acid to alkali is called the pH scale • Are all the groups’ colour numbers the same? • If not, can you think of any reasons that might make them a bit different? Neutral Alkali Acid

34. Mars experiment: Task 2 • In Task 2 you were shown three different types of (imaginary) alien bacteria • Each of them liked living in different areas (acidic, neutral, alkaline), and you were asked to match up which bacteria could live in which type of sand Bacteria 2 Lives in acidic areas Bacteria 1 Lives in neutral areas Bacteria 3 Lives in alkaline areas

35. Answers… A Bacteria 1 Lives in neutral areas B Bacteria 2 Lives in acidic areas C Bacteria 3 Lives in alkaline areas

36. Mars experiment: Extra Task • If you had time to do the extra task, did you manage to list some things that bacteria would need to survive on Mars? • Humans are a bit more complicated! Imagine you are the first astronauts ever to travel to Mars… • What will you need to survive? • What might you see and find? • Will you be able to get back to Earth? How?

37. Mars experiment: Exploring Mars! • We want to know if there were ever any living things on Mars • We are looking! We are exploring Mars with robots • We do not know if there were living things on Mars • We have never found any living things anywhere in space (but they might be out there somewhere!) • An alien means any living thingnot from Earth Image credit: European Space Agency

38. The European Space Agency’s ExoMars rover will be exploring Mars in the next few years.Click to play an interview with Abbie Hutty, lead structural engineer building the ExoMars rover. You must be connected to the internet for this video to play. If it is still not playing, click the link below or copy & paste the address into your web browser: https://youtu.be/fOFf7fTRFtE

39. 4: Meteorite experiment When meteors land they are meteorites. These are very different from Earth rocks…

40. Where do meteorites come from? • Meteors and meteorites start life floating in space as meteoroids. • Meteoroids usually come from when asteroids crash together, sending out tiny pieces into space. • Asteroids have been floating in space for a long time – usually billions of years! • This makes them much older and very different from any of the rocks from the Earth…

41. Earth rocks • Rocks on Earth are formed in lots of different ways. • One of the ways is for lava (from volcanoes) to cool down and solidify into rocks. • Did you know that lava is just hot, melted rock? Like ice is to water, rock is to lava! • Lava can make lots of different types of rock, depending on how quickly it cools down. Image credit: Jason Bott, Christopher Berger, Pete Garza

42. Meteorite experiment: Task 1 • In this experiment, you had five rocks. Following a flow chart, you performed a series of tests. The results of the tests allowed you to identify the rocks.

43. Task 1 answers... Lodestone is made out of magnetite, which has become magnetised. This makes it a natural magnet. We’re not entirely sure how lodestones become magnetised, but it might be from being struck by lightning! Granite is formed when magma cools slowly underground. This gives enough time for crystals to form in the rock. Granite has many uses in buildings, e.g. to make kitchen tops. Most meteorites contain a lot of iron, which makes them stick to magnets, but they are not magnetic by themselves. They are also covered in a black crust – this is where they got hot and burnt as they fell to Earth! Basalt is created when lava leaks out of volcanoes, then cools quickly on the surface, or just underneath it. You also find basalt rocks on the Moon, Mars and Venus. Pumice is created when lava quickly shoots out of volcanoes and cools very quickly. The holes are made from trapped gas bubbles in the lava!

44. Congratulations! • We have come to the end of our experiments into the Solar System! • We hoped you enjoyed your experiments, plus we hope you learnt a few new things! Thanks, from everyone at Jodrell Bank! 